Federal funding for Ontario includes electronic records

TORONTO – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (pictured), alongside the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, announced a new $3.1 billion agreement to improve healthcare in Ontario. This investment will help increase access to family doctors, reduce wait times, hire more healthcare workers, and ensure faster care for Canadians, including mental healthcare.

“Canadians value our universal public healthcare system, but recently this system hasn’t been living up to its promise. That’s why we’re signing agreements with provinces and territories to help ensure Canadians can access reliable, timely, and safe healthcare. Today’s agreement with Ontario will increase access to family doctors, reduce backlogs, increase the workforce, and make the healthcare system work better. Let’s give Canadians the quality healthcare they expect and deserve,” stated Trudeau.

“Making sure everyone in Canada can get healthcare when they need it is a big promise and it’s something Canadians deserve. People are relying on all levels of government to work together and address the challenges in front of us. Reaching this agreement and action plan is a significant step in our collaboration with Ontario to take measurable action to improve our healthcare system. Together with all provinces and territories, we will continue working to achieve better health outcomes for everyone,” added Mark Holland, minister of Health.

The province will modernize digital infrastructure – from information reporting, to collection, to sharing. By expanding the availability of electronic health information and increasing the number of healthcare professionals who can securely access and share this information, healthcare will be more convenient, connected, and patient-centered.

Under this agreement, Ontario will continue to deliver on its Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care and create new primary care teams to help more people connect to family doctors. With more family doctors, as well as nurse practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, and social workers, health teams will ensure families can access timely, quality primary care. This will also help reduce backlogs for surgeries and wait times in emergency rooms while improving access to care for patients without a family doctor, especially in rural, remote, and underserved areas.

To fill healthcare shortages, Ontario will add hundreds of new family physicians and nurse practitioners, as well as thousands of new nurses and personal support workers. Enrollment in healthcare education programs will be expanded by over 700 spots – including over 70 in Northern Ontario. To keep building the talent for the future, Ontario will support students with tuition fees, help practicing professionals gain new skills, and bring more health workers into the field.

The agreement will also make it easier for Canadian and internationally trained doctors and health professionals to practice in Ontario, so they spend less time dealing with red tape and more time helping patients in need. This includes removing barriers to foreign credential recognition, simplifying licensing processes, and increasing program access for highly educated and skilled health professionals.

Mental health is a central pillar of this important investment. Ontario will add five new Youth Wellness Hubs to the 22 that have opened since 2020, making it faster and easier for youth to connect to much needed mental health and substance use services in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities. The Province will also continue to expand its Structured Psychotherapy Program, helping thousands more Ontarians get timely help for depression or anxiety through free cognitive behavioural therapy and other related supports.

“This agreement will provide welcome support for our ongoing work to rebuild and modernize Ontario’s mental health and addictions system. We are improving the quality of services across the province, lowering barriers to access, and collaborating with partners to develop innovative and culturally appropriate solutions to close gaps in care. Our government is building a continuum of care that is based on treatment and recovery, and we will continue to make effective, evidence-based investments that connect more people to crucial mental health and addictions supports, closer to home,” said Michael Tibollo, Ontario’s associate minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

The federal and provincial governments will engage and work with Indigenous Peoples to address gaps and systemic inequities in Indigenous healthcare services and improve access to culturally safe care. Under the agreement, funds will go to Ontario’s Support for Indian Residential Schools Burials Funding program, which provides culturally safe mental health supports to Survivors of residential schools, families, and communities. As we move forward on the shared path of reconciliation, safe and timely health care is a priority for Indigenous communities.

This investment is part of the Government of Canada’s larger work to invest over $200 billion to improve healthcare, including funding through tailored bilateral agreements with provinces and territories. The agreement with Ontario is the fifth agreement announced, after British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Alberta, and Nova Scotia. Through this announced agreement, the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario will deliver better results for patients, support healthcare workers, and protect our healthcare system now and into the future.